I do. It actually caused some confusion too, because some people were like, “Well, we got invited to this budget consultation, and the member who represents that area wasn’t invited,” which is a whole other level of disrespect, but sometimes you’ve just got to get used to that stuff. Fortunately, we have such good working relationships with the people of this province that they call us and they say, “Why weren’t you there?” And I said, “That’s because that’s the government’s system.” If you want to come to the public, transparent, open budget consultation, then by all means, come to it and try to get into it. Of course, the government conveniently forgot London and Niagara and K-W, and so people had to travel. If you’re putting up barriers to people engaging in their budget—just like this is their House—it doesn’t instill trust and it doesn’t instill confidence, I would say.

I just want to finish on the FAO report from yesterday, because there were five areas that the FAO focused on: long-term care; hospital capacity; emergency rooms, which we already heard about; home care; and I think most importantly, key provincial workforce measures and the impact on the people who work in those systems. There is a desperate need also, and this is just a clarification. When they’re focused on the health care human professionals, it was not comprehensive of all professionals. It certainly didn’t engage the issue of the doctor shortage as well. Perhaps there may be a separate report on that. But it did make me think though that where so few people have access to a primary care provider—two million to be in the area—because the system is still designed as the doctor being the gatekeeper for the entire health care system. If you don’t have a family doctor, it’s really hard to access a specialist, to have a health care contingency care plan where you see a very clear guideline as to how you can get better again.

With so many Ontarians not having access to a doctor, it does raise the issue of what is the strategy? Our health critic has been so strong on the nurse practitioner-led clinics, because a nurse practitioner, if you did so choose to invest—once again, we hope that it’s in the budget—a single nurse practitioner can alleviate a wait-list of 900 patients because they’re funded differently. It’s a very holistic model of care. I believe there are nine current applications into the government to address northern and rural communities and to address key areas where people do not have family practitioners.

The chamber has also advocated—I mentioned they were here earlier—that accelerating the registration of internationally educated medical professionals should be happening right now. The government says that they’re doing this on nursing, but I just want to leave the government with this one key piece: You can’t recruit nurses from other provinces into a broken system. It doesn’t work. The smart investment, the fiscally responsible investment is to respect the people who are currently working in the system, because they’re experienced and they’re connected to those communities. That in and of itself will help you recruit health care professionals into those sectors, be it into the mental health field or into home care or into the hospital system.

We also have to provide an opportunity for internationally trained medical doctors to access the system in Ontario. Our critic on this from Scarborough has been incredibly strong. This was a topic that I was talking with my concierge last week. His name is Mohammad; he’s from Pakistan. He’s a renal specialist. He’s a doctor, and he’s working as the concierge in my building. He has four children. He took the medical exam. He failed by one point, so now he’s a concierge.

I’m working with him because I think the Ontario College of Family Physicians has recognized that there have to be opportunities where trained medical professionals can reach their potential in Ontario. We’re desperate for doctors. We’re desperate. What a missed opportunity. Ontario should be a province where you come to this province and you get the opportunity to reach your potential, because Ontario needs you. This actually was interesting because the same day, one of our northern members was talking about how much it costs to fly and house folks who need to travel for dialysis. The smart investment is on recruiting and retaining those medical professionals in communities that desperately need those talented people. I’m certainly hoping that the government can make some progress on that as well.

With that, I just want to conclude by saying we are going to be respectful of the people’s voices that we heard during the budget consultation, we are going to continue to fight for greater transparency in the funding and we’re going to push the government to actually acknowledge that the plan that they have for health care right now is a plan that will fail. We need that acknowledgement to be made by this government, because having a $21.3-billion discrepancy is basically setting up the health care system in Ontario to not be successful, and I would hope that none of us want that to happen

With that, Madam Speaker, I just want to say thank you for your undivided attention. I look forward to budget 2023.

I’d like to thank Abdi Batun and the entire board of directors of Scarborough Somaliland Community Association in my riding of Scarborough Centre for inviting me to their ribbon-cutting opening ceremony on Saturday, March 4, 2023.

The Scarborough Somaliland Community Association is committed to addressing the unique needs of the Somali community, including youth, seniors and people with disabilities, as well as supporting new Somali immigrants and refugees transitioning to life in Canada through provision of culturally and linguistically relevant educational, training and mentorship services.

Cultural community organizations are community champions and play a pivotal role in meeting the short-term settlement and the long-term integration needs of many immigrants and refugees. As we look to these skilled immigrants to fill our labour shortage and grow our economy, I continue to support and advocate for cultural organizations in Scarborough Centre and across the province. Thank you for your countless contributions to Ontario’s social, economic, community and political fabric.

The arts and culture sector, artists and cultural workers have been disproportionately hit by COVID, and to be frank, it’s not COVID alone. This government has chronically cut and underfunded the arts well before the pandemic, despite the fact that we can count nearly 30 billion ways in which arts and culture contributes to our GDP, not to mention the near 300,000 jobs the sector creates for our province.

Make no mistake: Committing to sustainable funding at or above the rate of inflation is key to the survival of our creative sector, a sector where most creatives weren’t even able to get CERB during the pandemic, and most in live performance saw their careers go poof without notice.

Most government funds for smaller art organizations tend to be targeted towards individual short-term projects, which does not help the organization build capacity for long-term planning. That is why I’m demanding today that the OAC budget for the Ontario Arts Council remain at $65 million in the 2023 provincial budget. On behalf of every creative worker and community-based organization in St. Paul’s, we’re pleading with this government: Do not cut the already strapped Ontario Arts Council budget again, especially with the work that they do for priority groups like deaf artists, artists with disabilities, artists of colour, francophone artists, Indigenous artists and new-generation artists, to name a few.

Speaker, visit any gallery, any museum, any theatre, any library, any art studio. The arts are the way—

Further debate? Further debate?

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of the Attorney General. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Indigenous Affairs. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Energy. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Health. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Colleges and Universities. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Finance. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Office of the Premier. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Cabinet Office. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Treasury Board Secretariat. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Transportation. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Infrastructure. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a nay.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Francophone Affairs. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of the Solicitor General. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Education. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Mr. Calandra has moved concurrence in supply for the Ministry of Long-Term Care. Is it the pleasure of the House that the motion carry? I heard a no.

All those in favour of the motion will please say “aye.”

All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”

In my opinion, the ayes have it.

Interjection: On division.

Motions agreed to.

Skills empower people. Through financial independence, empowered people empower families, and empowered families empower communities. This is how we empower humanity. This is precisely what Connecture Canada, from Mississauga–Malton, is doing: breaking the cycle of poverty, one family at a time, through the development of open environments that encourage French-speaking immigrants to explore opportunities for careers and entrepreneurship.

Funded by OTF since 2020, through the Braids on Call training program, Connecture has helped more than 90 women from marginalized communities in Peel to become certified braiders. Graduate braiders can earn decent money, setting them firmly on the road to financial security.

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a graduation ceremony, as the new graduates celebrated the launch of their careers. I witnessed the smiles of confidence and the laughter of their successful future. I can still feel the music of their success in my heart.

Mr. Speaker, this is a great example of skilled trades transforming life. I’d like to extend my sincerest thanks to executive director Rose Cathy Handy, the entire staff and volunteers at Connecture for supporting the Franco-Ontarian community. Braids on Call is now encouraging trained braiders with entrepreneurial skills to attract more clients and become business partners to scale up. My best wishes for your—

Earlier this week, we had dozens of families of children with autism here at Queen’s Park with the autism coalition, who brought stories of the struggles that they face every single day, and they wanted us to listen to those concerns.

Families have been stuck in the vicious cycle of dysfunction of the Ontario Autism Program for years. Parents wait for years to get an invitation, and then keep waiting for their assessment, and then they keep waiting for their funding to be released, and then they wait to access to the programs that the child actually needs. And then, when they find access to that program, sometimes their funding deadline finishes or it starts again. This is the vicious cycle that they go through every single day here in this province. This is the reality.

The program has set a target of registering 8,000—yes, 8,000—children into the program. But the reporting from Global News shows that we have only registered 888. If the program applications were to stop today and there were no new applications, we would need 66 years—66 years—to get through the program wait-list.

Speaker, I cannot even imagine the pain some of these parents are going through. Some of them come to my office, and the tears—I cannot tell you the horrible situations they are going through. I implore this government to take a hard look at the program, invest the funding that’s necessary and make this program—

Our government’s commitment under the leadership of the Premier and the Minister of Health to improve the quality of health care in Scarborough has begun to pay off. Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the groundbreaking of the Northpine diagnostic imaging department at the Scarborough Health Network’s general hospital. The people of Scarborough have been waiting for 20 years for this state-of-the-art diagnostic imaging unit. I would like to commend the Scarborough Health Network team for this important achievement.

This is the first of many groundbreaking projects in Scarborough–Agincourt and Scarborough. Other health-related capital infrastructure projects, such as the brand new Birchmount Grace hospital and the Bridletowne dialysis centre, are in the various stages of the planning and approval process.

In addition to health infrastructure projects and the allocation of thousands of long-term-care beds, our government is backing the opening of the new Scarborough Academy of Medicine and Integrated Health at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus. This school will serve local communities in Scarborough by graduating physicians, nurses, PSWs, physical therapists and other life sciences professionals.

Scarborough is not the forgotten borough anymore. Scarborough is getting the attention it deserves.

Thank you very much.

About three weeks ago, the residents of Orléans were awoken by an enormous jolt. The walls and windows of their homes were shaking and, a few moments later, the near constant sound of emergency responders racing somewhere in the distance.

On February 13, a home under construction in a new subdivision exploded, and it destroyed four homes and damaged many more. The explosion could be felt for kilometres, and I’ve read that it was heard as far away as the village of Vars.

I’d like to thank the emergency responders in the city of Ottawa for their quick and decisive actions that morning. Two people were rescued from the rubble with serious injuries and several others were hospitalized, including children. Residents of nearly 30 households were displaced for several days. When you see the images of destruction, it’s hard to understand how nobody lost their life.

I’d like commend my city councillor, Catherine Kitts. She and her team were on site right away ensuring residents were being taken care of, that neighbours were being provided the information they needed to ensure that those displaced had somewhere to sleep and receive a hot meal.

There will be several important lessons to be learned from what happened: lessons for home builders in securing their sites, lessons for first responders, and lessons for this government and the lack of supports to help those who no longer have a home to move into.

I rise today to say that it’s an honour to represent the people of Ajax. This past weekend, my colleagues MPP McCarthy, MPP Coe, MPP Quinn, Minister Bethlenfalvy and I had the privilege of celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Durham Abilities Centre and its first Accessibility Awards, entitled “unlocking potential,” hosted at the Deer Creek banquet facility in Ajax. The Accessibility Awards is an event to recognize people creating change that reimagines how people with accessibility live, work and play.

I want to congratulate all the nominees and winners, but a special congratulations to Shanjay Kailayanathan, who was honoured with the Jim Flaherty award. This award is presented to a person who has shown leadership in a significant contribution toward the promotion, development, and advancement of accessibility and inclusion.

Shanjay was involved in a car accident at the age of 15 that left him paralyzed from the chest down. Rather than seeing this as a barrier, he pushed on to receive a degree in software engineering and found a company called Axcessiom Technologies, through which he developed a driver assistance program that uses facial recognition and voice recognition to activate distinct functions of vehicles, making driving easier and more accessible.

This remarkable young man is a true community champion and nephew of MPP Kanapathi. I would like to personally congratulate Shanjay on this award and your tremendous contribution to breaking down barriers.

I’m very, very proud to welcome Jana and Steve Lanys-Morris here. I don’t see them. They were sitting in the members’ gallery. Maybe their service dogs have taken them out for a bit. Those service dogs’ names are Maverick and Phoenix.

Welcome from St. Paul’s to Queen’s Park, your House.

Thank you very much.

I am sad to have to report that it is now time to say a word of thanks to our legislative pages. Our pages are smart, trustworthy and hard-working. They are indispensable to the effective functioning of the chamber, and we are very fortunate to have had them here.

To our pages: You depart having made many new friends, with a greater understanding of parliamentary democracy and memories that will last a lifetime. Each of you will go home now and continue your studies, and no doubt will contribute to your communities, your province and your country in important ways. We expect great things from all of you. Maybe some of you will someday take your seats in this House, or work here as staff someday. Who knows? We wish you all well.

Please join me in thanking this group of legislative pages.

Applause.

It is my distinct honour to welcome Dhondup Wangchen to the Legislature today. He is a Tibetan filmmaker who became a political prisoner for six years for his documentary Leaving Fear Behind. He was named an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience and is the recipient of the International Press Freedom Award. Speaker, I worked on the campaign to free him, and I can’t believe he’s in the House today. Joining him is Youngdoung Tenzin, who is an executive member of the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Centre.

Yesterday, Speaker, we observed and celebrated the many accomplishments of women in this House and around the world.

I would like to take this opportunity to mention two women who had a profound influence on my life:

First, my mother: Widowed and left to raise six children on her own, the resilience, work ethic and kindness of my mother was what was instilled into me. I was the youngest of six siblings and was also probably the most challenging of all of my siblings. My biggest regret in life is that she passed away before I was first elected. I know that she was extremely proud of me and she continues to bless me from above.

The second influence in my life was my constituent and former Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion. In 1998, when I hosted a national conference on spousal abuse, she spoke about the increase of people fleeing abusive situations and opened up yet another shelter in Mississauga. Since then, I’ve heard from women all over who said they would probably be dead if it wasn’t for those shelters—true leadership.

I’ve talked about the two most influential women who helped shape who I am, but now I’m fully influenced by my two granddaughters, Tara and Tia, ages four and two. To see the world through their eyes, to make decisions as a parliamentarian that not only affect us but to build homes, hospitals, highways and communities to make sure that our future generations—

Meegwetch, Speaker. Remarks in Oji-Cree. Good morning. It’s an honour to welcome people from Kiiwetinoong; specifically, from the Neskantaga First Nation: Chief-elect Chris Moonias, Daren Sakanee, and Sharon Sakanee.

Meegwetch for coming.

I am super excited today to welcome my niece Emma Welsh-Huggins to Queen’s Park. She’s sitting in the members’ gallery over here. She doesn’t want me to say this, but I’m going to brag about her. She was the digital director for Elizabeth Warren’s Iowa caucus campaign during the last presidential election.

As we are watching the news from the United States, we’re seeing the painful reversal of years of advances in civil rights. We can be thankful that that’s not the case here in Ontario, but we can never take for granted that basic human rights will not be trampled. We all must remain diligent.

I want to share with this House a poem that was written just after World War II—you may have heard it—by Martin Niemöller:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Speaker, earlier this week I had the pleasure of hosting a group of people from the Greater Napanee Pride committee. These are dedicated members or allies of the LGBT community, and they came here to show that, like everyone else, this is their House.

I’m forever grateful that in this House and in this government, all of our constituents are represented.

Yesterday was International Women’s Day, and March 31 will be international trans recognition day. I ask all of the members of this House to celebrate our differences, to celebrate our diversity, with respect and humility.

I would like to congratulate Nolan Wu, who has served in the House as a page. I didn’t get a chance to meet him until today. I wish him well in the experience that he has at the Legislature, and I hope to see him at noon today.

I would like to welcome several members of my staff in the constituency office, as well as a number of women who are leaders in the community in Don Valley West: Julie, Sheila, Lita, Shakhlo, Barb, Jennifer, Najia, Marilynn, Ombobola, Judie, Kamrana, Shazia, Fatma, as well as my mom, Barb, and my daughter, Maddi—here today for a very special gathering to talk about the stories of these women. Some of them are just new from Nigeria. They’re studying at Seneca College, volunteering in my constituency office. They’re lawyers in their home country, and we want them to do well here. I want everyone to welcome them warmly.